The present invention relates to surgical headlight systems, and more particularly, the present invention relates to headgear for mounting headlights on the head of a surgeon.
Headlights are worn on the head of surgeons, technicians, and like individuals for directing a spotlight beam of intense light coincident with the wearer's line of sight, independent from overhead and/or ambient lighting. Headlight systems typically include a headlamp that receives an emitting end of a fiber optic cable and that focuses and directs the light from the cable into a beam aimed forward of the wearer. The headlamp includes an assembly of optic elements that is preferably configured in a tubular elbow which depends from a headband of headgear at the wearer's forehead to a location approximately between the wearer's eyes.
An example of a headlight system is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,300 B1 issued to Don et al. which is assigned to Sunoptic Technologies LLC, the assignee of the present application. FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,300 B1 illustrates an example of a headlamp mounted to headgear worn by a surgeon. The headgear includes a headband encircling the head of its wearer and extending above the wearer's ears and across the wearer's forehead and rear of the wearer's head. The headgear also includes a support or top head strap that extends over the top of the wearer's head and connects to opposite side sections of the headband directly above the ears of the wearer. The headgear supports the headlamp on the headband at a location corresponding to the center of the wearer's forehead. The headgear also guides fiber optic cables extending from the headlamp toward the rear of the wearer's head so that the cables do not interfere with the surgeon's vision or movements.
Additional illustrations of headgear for surgical headlight systems are provided by U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,257 issued to Kloots et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,230 issued to Chester, U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,993 issued to Feinbloom and U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D.238,958 issued to Feinbloom, D.266,192 issued to Feinbloom et al., and D.441,111 S issued to Van Der Bel.
A surgeon may be required to continuously wear the headgear and headlamp for many hours during the course of delicate or complicated surgery. During this time, the surgeon may be required to move within the operating room, for instance, from one side of an operating table to the other, and will frequently change the angle of his/her head relative to the horizontal such as by looking down, looking up, and/or looking to the side at the patient, equipment within the operating room, or the like. Throughout this entire time, it is imperative that the headgear and headlamp remain stationary relative to the head of the wearer in a stable condition. The headgear should not loosen, move relative to the head, or become dislodged. Such events may distract the surgeon and possibly interrupt the surgical procedure. For this reason, it is common practice to tighten conventional headgear as tight as possible to the head of the surgeon to ensure stability. However, such tightening typically leads to discomfort which also may be distracting to the surgeon.
Although the above referenced headgear for mounting surgical headlights may be satisfactory for their intended purposes, there is a need for headgear for a surgical headlight system which can be worn in a manner providing greater stability of the headgear on the head of the surgeon. The headgear should provide this improved stability without the need of over-tightening the headgear and without sacrificing comfort. Thus, surgeons should be able to wear the headgear continuously for many hours in a stable and comfortable manner so as not to provide discomfort or distraction during the course of a surgical procedure.